Justice Halilu Yusuf of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has turned down the request of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, to issue arrest warrants against a former Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, two former commissioners of police and three others accused falsifying age to unlawfully remain in the service of the Nigeria Police Force.
The IGP, billed to put the five former senior police officers on trial before the judge on charges of forgery and age falsification on Thursday, applied for an order to effect the arrest of the accused persons when he discovered that they were not in court for arraignment.
The five ex-senior police officers are: AIG Idowu Owohunwa (rtd), CP Benneth Igweh (rtd), CP Ukachi Peter Opara (rtd), DCP Obo Ukam Obo (rtd) and ACP Simon A. Lough, SAN, (rtd), listed as defendants in a 14-count charge brought against them by the IGP.
Represented by a police lawyer, Ezekiel Rimamasonte, the IGP expressed displeasure that the five retired senior police officers were absent in court despite being served with the charges against them.
Rimamasonte, an AIG, subsequently requested Justice Yusuf to issue arrest warrants for the police to arrest the accused persons and bring them to court for trial.
His request was however vehemently opposed by Terkaa Aondo, SAN, who accused the IGP of not serving the defendants with the charges as required by law.
In the drama that ensued, the prosecutor said the five accused persons were served with the charges through WhatsApp messages and sought for their arrest in accordance to the provisions of Section 266(1) of the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
He said that visits to the last known home addresses of the defendants showed that they had vacated their official houses following their retirement from service.
The mode of service by IGP was faulted and declared improper by the lawyer to the accused persons, who insisted that the only lawful service mode is by delivering the charges to them individually.
Credit: dailypost.ng
